The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. April 12, 2022 Philadelphia Becomes First Major U.S. City to Reinstate Indoor Mask Mandate --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here in the United States, Philadelphia has become the first major city to reinstate an indoor mask mandate, after a sharp rise in new COVID-19 cases. The move comes just six weeks after Philadelphia officials dropped indoor mask requirements put in place amid record rates of infection last winter. Meanwhile, several prominent U.S. universities - including Columbia, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins and Rice - have reinstated mask mandates on campuses. The number of U.S. infections is once again rising, led by northeastern states, where the BA.2 Omicron subvariant has become the dominant form of coronavirus. .